Johannes Hoff Thorup and Glenn Riddersholm have been relieved of their duties by Norwich City Football Club From the website: "Norwich City have parted company with head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup with immediate effect. Assistant head coach Glen Riddersholm has also left his position with the club. Sporting director Ben Knapper said: “Whilst we made this appointment with a long-term focus and in line with our wider club strategy and direction, unfortunately recent results and performances have deemed it necessary for us make a change. “I’d like to place on record our sincere thanks to Johannes and Glen. They are both fantastic people who worked tirelessly to help improve and move our football club forward. “We all wish the two of them the best in the next stage of their respective careers.” Jack Wilshere, assisted by Tony Roberts and Nick Stanley, will take charge of the first team on an interim basis for our two remaining Sky Bet Championship fixtures of the season. The club will now progress with its plans of appointing a new permanent head coach in due course."
I have to say I for one am absolutely shocked and gutted that we have sacked them, I know I have nailed my colours to the mast on this one, but I saw enough promise in the early to mid season that there was something to build on. However, I can also acknowledge that recent form and performances were unacceptable. I really thought that he would be given time to continue the project, I hope this isn't a lurch away from the project. The next appointment needs to be someone to continue in the direction strategically with Knapper.
Given that the club was supposed to be putting data at the heart of its football operations, I find that extraordinary.
There must be more to this. Sacking your head coach this early in a "long-term transition project" is an odd one.
Great, we're turning into Watford mkII. Once again the noisy vocal minority of fans have got their way with delusions of grandeur thinking we're better than we are, with some exceptionalism chucked in for good measure. I hope the next manager is a long ball target man merchant, so we can see some classic football plays in the modern era
As I posted on yesterday's match thread, Thorup hasn't seemed the same man to me since the league resumed after the last international break, during which Thorup and Knapper were in the US for meetings with the Norfolk Group. You may well be right, Hairy.
The question now is "who would the fans like as his permanent replacement?" Below are some of the early odds on his replacement: https://www.bettingodds.com/thesackrace/teams/norwich-city
Looking at the upper half of those names I'd rather have JHT. O'Neil at a push Liam Rosenior, but why would he leave Strasbourg, with possible European football, same with Still. Martin would placate the noisy agitators.
I saw this coming after the Portsmouth debacle. It’s clear that some (if not all) of the players had decided they were not going to put much effort into playing. In these circumstances, it’s the manager who gets the chop. What was actually happening in the changing room we will never know. That’s Farke, Smith, Warner and now JHT in successive seasons.
Must admit I was surprised at the sacking, despite not being in a position to be promoted, we are not going to be relegated this season, so I would have given him at least a couple of months of the new season, and if things had not improved then relieve him of his duties. After all, when we first appointed Farke, it took him 2 seasons to get us promoted, and Wagner was appointed in the January of the previous year in which we got to the play-offs, sp it took him about a season and a half to reach the play-offs, and all they have given JHT is less than a full season in charge. JHT is not solely responsible for this season's failure, our defence (especilally players like Long & Duffy) has often let us down. Long has conceded 19 goals in 45 shots, and we have often thrown away games where we were in winning positions, examples being Blackburn, Derby, and Oxford, where we we 1-0 up only to end up drawing 1-1 and others being games such as Sunderland and Burnley, where we threw away a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 thanks to our defence
Possibly, was he given a points total to hit by the end of the season and was more than 6 points away from that perhaps? Player downing tools for him would make little sense as ultimately it is Ben Knapper who will be responsible for their futures
Feels like a really odd decision. After 42 games we were 10 points off the playoffs with 12 available, so still mathematically possible. Given the quick games over Easter, has the league position only changed relatively recently to mean promotion is impossible, and that's meant this change was less expensive? There was an interview recently where JHT seemed genuinely surprised by the communication from the board that promotion was the aim this season. Which I can sympathise with, given the recruitment this year has all been geared at younger players who need bedding in and some development. If the aim was truly promotion this season, very little of our transfer dealings have been aligned with that. Why on earth sign Jurasek in January for not significant money when it's apparent his physical conditioning was never going to be appropriate for a championship run-in?
Hi Guys long time no see, thought I'd pop back for the comments If nothing else I suppose that this shows Attanasio is pretty ruthless, our previous owners would in all probability have stuck with JHT well into next season until that one was another write off!
I too am very surprised by this. I think the big unknown from my perspective is how much influence Attanasio had on Thorup’s appointment in the first place. If he did not have much influence on Thorup being appointed, then I think that explains it fully. I had assumed he would have had a big say, though. In which case I agree it just seems ruthless (and a bit odd). Attanasio is a brand-builder though, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he likes the idea of Wilshere being in charge. Jack Wilshere’s Norwich City might get a bit tiresome though.
I can't see Knapper appointing a complete rookie on a permanent basis; JHT was himself relatively inexperienced but at least he had a season and a half as head coach behind him, including qualifying for and competing in European competition.
I initially thought this was a joke thread when I saw the title It's a shame Robbins has joined Stoke half a year ago as I would have liked him to have had a go. I wonder who we will get as manager
Given our Director of Football model I'd expect more of the same, perhaps (read: hopefully) with better execution of the footballing philosophy. JHT never seemed particularly inspirational in the "behind the scenes" videos that showed him talking to the players in the changing rooms post-game. We need a stronger leader in my opinion. I'm making a big assumption that maybe losing the respect of the dressing room, or some key players, had something to do with the speed of his departure. We'll continue to focus on possession and sucking in the press, playing out from the back so training and team leadership (especially the difficult conversations), are going to be vital. No idea who that is. They've got a tricky job now. Another concern is convincing the choice players looking for contracts that we're now their best option.
You may be on to something with the dressing room, until now the only person to have publicly posted a message of thanks to JHT is Marcondes, which in the days of social media might be saying something in itself.
